Monday, June 6, 2011

Potato Crusted Silverbeet, Leek and Feta Quiche

My fruit & veg delivery this week (AKA my "Mystery Box" (for all you Masterchef fans)) contained this huge fresh and vibrant looking silverbeet and a very nice looking leek. Along with that came the usual kg of potatoes which we sometimes struggle to finish within the week. So when my googling found this recipe, I was very excited.

But I should have googled a bit further and figured out exactly what kind of potatoes I was dealing with. So my lesson learnt from today's cooking expedition is "Know Your Potato"! (More information can be found at the Cook and the Chef.)

The crust (apart from the top) didn't turn out quite as crusty as I hoped but the filling was silky and tasty and the potato did complement the leek (which I had used instead of red onion).Here's my Thermotalk version:

1 tablespoon thyme (or rosemary - but I would use less as it is a stronger flavour)1 clove of garlic30g olive oil250g sour cream150g feta cheese1 tbsp wholegrain mustardfreshly ground black pepper5 eggs8-10 cherry tomatoes, halvedMethodBy doing things in the following order, you will only have to wash the Thermomix once - at the end!1. Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line base and sides of 24cm springform tin (I didn't line the sides and had a bit of trouble removing it - but then again this could be due to my inappropriate potatoes!)2. Place parmesan cheese into TM bowl and grate for 3 seconds on speed 8. Set aside.3. Place garlic clove into TM bowl and chop for 3 seconds on speed 7. Place into a large bowl.4. Add 1 egg, melted butter and salt and pepper to large bowl and whisk lightly.5. Grate potatoes (I left the skin on and didn't really notice it in the final product - so this definitely saved time from the original recipe which required them to be peeled). 6. Squeeze the grated potatoes to remove excess water and add to the egg mix and combine well.7. Press the mixture into the tin, bringing it up the sides.8. Bake for 30 minutes, until crisp and golden (my potatoes took almost an hour because of their high water content).9. Place the silverbeet in the TM bowl. Chop on speed 5 for 3 seconds.10. Cook at 100C for 5 minutes on reverse + speed 1.11. Remove silverbeet and place in steamer basket and press with the back of a spoon to drain excess water.12. Place leek, thyme and garlic in TM bowl. Chop on speed 7 for 3 seconds.13. Add oil to TM bowl and fry at Varoma temperature for 5 minutes on speed 1.14. Leave to cool with TM lid off for about 5 minutes.15. Add cooked silverbeet, sour cream, 100g feta, mustard, pepper and eggs into TM bowl. Mix for 10 seconds on speed 5.16. Pour filling into cooked potato crust. Sprinkle 50g feta over the top followed by the parmesan cheese. Dot the tomatoes on top.17. Bake for 35 minutes or until the filling is firm to touch. (If the top of the crust is starting to go too brown before the filling is set then cover the edges with foil to protect it).18. As suggested by food4thought gourmet you might want to carefully remove the sides of the springform pan as soon as most of the filling is set, so that you brown the lower outside of the crust during the remaining cooking time.

Variation: You could use a standard blind baked short crust recipe for the crust (eg from page 119 of the EDC). Just skip steps 3 to 8 above.